HOLY HUMOR

Things were a little different at Opportunity Christian Church last Sunday. Smiley face balloons were everywhere, the sermon was delivered by a ventriloquist and the congregation rocked with laughter.

The church’s first celebration of Holy Humor Sunday was a rousing success. The tradition of mixing laughter with worship isn’t common, but it dates back to St. Augustine, said Pastor Lauri Clark Strait. “It’s actually a very ancient tradition,” she said. “It’s celebrated the first Sunday after Easter. The idea is that on Easter, God played a joke on the Devil by resurrecting Jesus.”

Church member Sherry Smith got the idea to put on the special service about reading a book on holy humor. Office manager Judy Miller knew Michael Waldrip, a local ventriloquist, and invited him to get in on the act.

“I never knew there was a Holy Humor Sunday until they called me,” Waldrip said. He works as a marketing director for a local retirement home, but does about a dozen ventriloquist shows a year with his companion Chester and a Dodo bird named Tilly, at elementary schools and churches around the country.

Laughter isn’t just good for people’s health, said Clark Strait, it’s also good for your soul. The church did its normal service, but there were jokes sprinkled throughout. Balloons were plentiful, and Communion was specially blessed rainbow Goldfish crackers. “Even though it was all goofy, the Gospel was definitely proclaimed,” Clark Strait said.

“It was a lot of fun,” Smith said. “It got a lot of smiles. The whole thing held the children’s attention.”

Waldrip included God and faith in each of his dialogues with his characters. “I think this is a God given talent that he’s given me just to encourage people,” he said. “I just really enjoy watching kids’ faces when I brighten their day. Just to get children to laugh, to get adults to laugh is worth it all.”

Waldrip closed his performance with a rendition of “Happy Trails,” just like he always has since he was able to meet Roy Rogers. “At the very end we had people sing along,” he said.

Clark Strait gives the credit for the event to Smith. “Because it comes the Sunday after Easter, there are so many other services that have to be planned first,” she said. “If it hadn’t been for Sherry getting so excited about it, we might not have pulled it off.”

Everyone liked the service so much that it will be back next year. This year the church youth were gone at a retreat and couldn’t participate, but hopefully that will change next year, Clark Strait said. “We’re hoping next year they will take a major part in leading it,” she said.

Clark Strait said she has heard of some churches going as far as having the choir dressed in bathrobes during Holy Humor Sunday services. “We were actually trying to be a little low key,” she said. “You can follow Jesus and still have fun and smile.”